Europe on the Move: labour aspects of the road transport

COTER

01 February 2018

Spyros SPYRIDON

The deepening of the single market in transport will follow on progressively from the strengthening of economic and social cohesion between the regions of the EU, which itself should reduce the need for special arrangements for the industry.

This opinion highlights the fact that wide divergences in economic and social cohesion between Member States have led to market distortion and forms of unfair competition such as letter-box companies or non-compliance with the labour law of the country where the transport takes place. In addition, the wide disparities in the remuneration of workers in the sector, as referred to in the opinion, adversely affect the smooth functioning of the single market for road transport. And yet, as stated by President Jean-Claude Juncker, the principle of equal pay for equal work in the same place must also apply to this job sector. According to the opinion, the Commission’s proposals are a step in that direction. For the CoR, the primary concern is to provide decent working conditions for drivers and a high level of road safety. More flexibility in the definition of time and rest conditions, which will have positive effects, should be combined with a clearer definition of driving time, as well as the creation of secure and guarded parking areas, so that rest does not involve having to supervise the goods transported. The opinion further emphasises that the systematisation of audits and the exchange of information between control authorities will be facilitated by speeding up the installation of smart tachographs and upgrading other common computer databases. Finally, in order to simplify the posting procedure, the rapporteur makes an innovative suggestion – to consider a weighted daily allowance as a possible solution: this would be paid to drivers in accordance with the country providing the transport work combined with the country of origin. In order to calculate this allowance, use could be made of the proven classification of Member States on the basis of per capita GDP, in exactly the same way as when implementing cohesion policy.

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